Articles

Daily articles carefully curated by the All About Jazz staff. Read our popular and future articles.

BUILDING A JAZZ LIBRARY July 2, 2020

Impulse! Records: An Alternative Top 20 Zeitgeist Seizing Albums

There can be little argument that a jazz label ever captured a zeitgeist more completely than Impulse! did during its original 1960s incarnation. In the US, the fight back against white racism was cresting, opposition to the Vietnam war was growing, outrage over the assassinations of figures of hope such as President Kennedy, Martin Luther King and Malcolm X was boiling over, and inner cities were literally ablaze with protest. Impulse! entered this arena in 1961. For ...

ALBUM REVIEW July 2, 2020

Attila László: Concerto for Jazz Guitar & Chamber Orchestra

By Friedrich Kunzmann

A household name in Hungary's jazz topographic for about 40 years, Hungarian guitarist Attila Laszlo has made a lasting impact on the fusion guitar world with a number of critically acclaimed collaborations, and by performing alongside international heavy weights of the genre, such as Randy Brecker, Peter Erskine and Weather Report bassist Miroslav Vitous. More recently he released an exciting workout in original modern fusion on Bridges of Souls (Dreamers Collective, 2014) in co-leadership with his compatriot Ferenc Nemeth on ...

RADIO July 2, 2020

Music from new label Tao Forms

By Bob Osborne

Tao Forms is a new recording label launched in Spring 2020. Drummer—improviser—composer Whit Dickey is both the creative director and executive producer of this fresh endeavour. Matthew Shipp's The Piano Equation was the label's inaugural release. It was followed by Expanding Light, which is the new work by Whit Dickey himself. The music is distributed by the Aum Fidelity label. On this show I feature tracks from both of those albums as well as other music from the ...

ALBUM REVIEW July 2, 2020

Erroll Garner: Erroll Garner Plays Gershwin & Kern

By Chris May

The British newspaper The Times once nailed Abdullah Ibrahim's appeal thus: “There are few musicians in jazz who can make you feel that essentially all is right in the world." The late Erroll Garner is another pianist whose music could be similarly described. You might argue that Ibrahim's task is harder, because much of his work deals with painful issues, while the ebullient Garner mostly played feelgood material from the Great American Songbook. But Garner's palette brought its own challenges, ...

RADIO July 2, 2020

Nicholas Krolak Interview

By Patrick Burnette

In this wide-ranging interview, the boys talk with bassist Nicholas Krolak, a Philadelphian with insights on pacing a set, marketing difficult-to-publicize music like jazz, the cost of including standards on a CD, and the oblique thinking of Bad Plus pianist Orrin Evans. There's also some discussion of “bachelor cookies" (not a euphemism) in there. Playlist Interview with Nicholas Krolak (2:30) Discussion of Nicholas Krolak's album Voice = Power (Self Released) 39:35 Discussion of Booker Ervin's album Tex Book ...

ALBUM REVIEW July 2, 2020

Sukyung Kim: Lilac Hill

By Mike Jurkovic

Lilac Hill, Korean-born, Brooklyn based pianist/composer Sukyung Kim's five song, self-produced, engaging debut EP fervently introduces a musical sensibility that is an airy, traditional blend of youthful wit and studied style with a lean, casual sense of swing at its heart. The title track starts the proceedings confidently enough with tight and dynamic group interplay, proving an early and undeniable testament to Kim's solid understanding that as one player shines so too shines the whole ensemble. “Stargazer" opens ...

ALBUM REVIEW July 2, 2020

Nils Okland Band: Kjølvatn

By David Bruggink

A seasoned solo performer, sideman and leader, Nils Økland is a frequent ECM Records contributor capable of playing expressively across multiple styles. His hardanger fiddle and violin can range from poised and elegant—see Lysøen -Hommage à Ole Bull (2011), his collaboration with pianist Sigbjørn Apeland—to raucous, as on the Dirty Three-esque Lumen Drones (2014). For Kjølvatn, he assembles a quintet capable of evocative textures as well as hushed austerity. ECM mainstay Mats Eilertsen plays double bass; Sigbjørn Apeland ...